Chicago F'in Rocks: The Jai-Alai Savant

Download: The Jai-Alai Savant - "Scarlet Johansson, Why Don't You Love Me?"

I saw The Jai-Alai Savant (pronounced hi-a-lie- sa-vant) open for Art Brut at Chicago's Subterrenean club this past weekend, and the Savant were totally rockin'. Like their fellow Chicago compatriots The Eternals, The Jai-Alai Savant take the bass-heavy sounds of dub reggae and filter it through post-punk. Essentially, The Jai-Alai Savant sound like a dance-punk version of The Police.

Their performance on Saturday was energetic and charismatic, with just the right blend of confidence and self-deprecation. Everyone looked good on the dancefloor, and The Jai-Alai Savant were more than happy to supply the tunes for the party. Special shout-out goes to bassist Nash Snyder for laying down some particularly sick bass lines.

If you go to the band's MySpace Page, you can stream other songs from their brand-new album Flight of the Bass Delegate , including the single "White on White Crime." Stream the rest of the album here, through the band's webpage.

And, apropos of the song posted in this entry, here is a picture of the lovely Ms. Johannson herself:



Why don't you love us indeed...

(Jonathan Graef)